STRENGTHENING OF MULTIETHNIC COOPERATION IN MUNICIPALITIESPROJECT

REPORTof the Baseline Study

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Research conducted by the Macedonian Civic

Education CenterSkopje, December 2011

REPORTof the Baseline Study

Authors:Gorica Mickovska, M.A.Anica AleksovaAna Mickovska Raleva, M.A.

Editing:Vesna Horvatovik, M.A. Mitko Ceslarov, M.A.

Test drafting and verification consultant:Anita Angelovska, M.A.

Field research conducted by BDE advisors: Abduraman MemediJulija Gligorova Trajanova Olgica NaumoskaRajmonda NaziriZoran Uzunov

Data processing:Beti Lameva, Ph.D.

Translation:Ljubinka Brasnarska

Graphic design:Biljana Mihajlovska

Gratitude to all collaborators who took part in the course of carrying outof this study, especially the students, parents, teachers and principals ofprimary schools in the sample, who responded to the administered testsand questionnaires realized as a part of this research.

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the views and policies of the Pestalozzi Children’sFoundation, Bureau for Development of Education and MCEC.

Professionally supported by: Financially supported by:

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CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

GOALS OF THE RESEARCHRESEARCH IMPLEMENTATIONBASIC RESEARCH FINDINGS

1. Implementing multicultural and multiethnic education content 2. Multiethnic communication and school integration 3. Initiatives of the municipalities which are related to multiethnic

education in the schoolsRECOMMENDATIONS

I. MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION1. BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT2. RESEARCH ABOUT MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION 3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE RESEARCH4. DATA GATHERING METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS5. SAMPLE

5.1. Schools 5.2. Students and parents5.3. Teachers5.4. Principals and school administration5.5. Representatives from the municipalities and non-governmental

organizations 6. DATA GATHERING, PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

II. RESULTS1. REALIZATION OF MULTICULTURAL AND MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION

CONTENT1.1. Qualification of teachers for realization of content

1.1.1. Attitudes of teachers regarding multiethnic and multiculturaleducation

1.1.2. Pedagogical and methodological preparation of teachersregarding multiethnic education 1.1.2.1. Answers about the reactions in separate ethnically

sensitive situations1.1.2.2. Self-evaluation of the preparation to work

in a multiethnic and multicultural environment1.1.2.3. Self-evaluation of the preparation for using

of interactive methods1.2. Students’ achievements related to questions from the instructional

content relevant for multiethnic education1.2.1. Student test achievements – IV grade

1.2.1.1. Answers of students by items1.2.1.2. Sample items and student achievements

1.2.2. Student test achievements – VIII grade 1.2.2.1. Answers of students by items1.2.2.2. Sample items and student achievements

1.2.3. Content covered by the students

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1.3. Opinions about the success of implementation of multiethnic and multicultural education1.3.1. How much does implementation of instruction enable

the development of interethnic and intercultural cooperation 1.3.2. Qualification of the educational staff for the implementation

of multiethnic and multicultural education

2. MULTIETHNIC COMMUNICATION AND INTEGRATION IN THE SCHOOLS 2.1. Organization of the work in the schools and opinions about it

2.1.1. Multiethnic education in the annual work plans of the schools 2.1.2. Opinions about the ethnically separated shifts in the schools 2.1.3. Interest for learning the language of the other ethnic

communities 2.2. Perception of the factors that influence multiethnic communication

2.2.1. Joint activities of the teachers and students from the differentlanguages of instruction

2.2.2. Opinions about the possibilities for building interethniccooperation in the school

2.2.3. Perceptions on the ethnic tensions among the students 2.2.4. Opinions on the factors that can contribute to good interethnic

relations 2.2.5. Social distance

3. INITIATIVES IN THE MUNICIPALITIES RELATED TO MULTICULTURAL AND MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS3.1. Non-governmental organizations

3.1.1. Capacities of the organizations 3.1.2. Areas of expertise3.1.3. Inclusion in multiethnic cooperation projects3.1.4. Cooperation with the schools and the local government 3.1.5. Attitudes about the interethnic relations among the students

in the municipality 3.1.6. Attitudes towards the other ethnic communities

3.2. Local authorities – education sector3.2.1. Inclusion in interethnic cooperation projects3.2.2. Cooperation with the schools and the non-governmental

organizations in the municipality3.2.3. Attitudes about the interethnic situation in the municipality 3.2.4. Attitudes about the other ethnic communities

III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONSCONCLUSIONS

1. Implementation of content for multicultural and multiethnic education 2. Multiethnic communication and integration in the schools3. Initiatives in the municipalities related to multiethnic education

in the schools RECOMMENDATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHYAPPENDIX

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GOALS OF THE RESEARCHThe goal of this research is to provide preliminary information about the

multiethnic cooperation in two “mixed” primary schools, in three multiethnicmunicipalities each, and to define recommendations before the commencement ofpilot activities in the Strengthening of multiethnic cooperation in municipalities Project.

The research is above all dedicated to giving answers to the following questions:

u What is the level of implementation of content for multicultural andmultiethnic education?

u What is the state of multiethnic communication and integration in theschools like?

u Are there any initiatives in the municipalities which are related tomultiethnic education in the schools and what are those initiatives like?

RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATIONThe data was gathered using a sample of six primary schools, two in Skopje (Butel

Municipality), Tetovo and Strumica, each. The schools are frequented by students ofmixed ethnic composition and the instruction is realized in more than one language ofinstruction (Macedonian, Albanian and/or Turkish). In each school, the respondents werethe school principals and school administration representatives, lower grade teachersteaching the fourth grade, homeroom teachers of eighth-grade students, teachersteaching the Civic education subject, 401 fourth-grade and eighth-grade students fromeach language of instruction and one parent/guardian of each of the students in thesample. The total number of respondents from the schools was: 15 school principalsand school administration representatives, 64 teachers, 749 students and 693parents/guardians.

Data was also gathered from local self-government representatives (persons inthe municipality responsible for education), as well as non-governmental organizationrepresentatives who work in the appropriate municipality. The total number ofrespondents is: 5 municipality representatives and 7 non-governmental organizationrepresentatives.

In the field, the research was conducted by Bureau for Development of Educationadvisors from Skopje and Tetovo, and the municipal education inspector in Strumica.

1 In the schools where the number of students was lower than the number planned in the sample, data wasgathered from all.

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BASIC RESEARCH FINDINGSWhile examining the findings related to the attitudes and opinion of the

teachers, one should have in mind the tendency of respondents to show themselves ina positive light which has been noticed in all previous research also related to theteaching practice.

1. IMPLEMENTING MULTICULTURAL AND MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION CONTENT

Qualification of the teaching staff and their attitudes

± The degree of acceptance of diversity in the education and the attitude of the teachers towards working in multiethnic environments cannotbe assessed as a particularly good basis for multiethnic education.

± In general, the majority of teachers estimated that they are partiallyqualified to use most methods which are appropriate for multiethniceducation (that is also confirmed by the results from the test in which they were supposed to pick appropriate reactions in ethnically sensitivesituations, in which the teachers are not very successful).

± The majority of teachers in the course of their studies did not prepare or only partially prepared to work in ethnically mixed environments. Also, a greater part of the teachers did not attend additional trainings orparticipated in projects about multiethnic cooperation and feel unpreparedor partially prepared to implement interethnic cooperation content. A little above half of the teachers are interested in trainings and working in multiethnic cooperation projects.

± The teachers are fairly optimistic about the expected effects on thestudents in their schools: the majority of them reckon that their studentswill be tolerant, willing to solve ethnic conflicts and loyal citizens of thestate (those beliefs largely apply to students learning in the language ofinstruction they teach in, and less to those who study in a differentlanguage of instruction).

± The principals and school administration staff from the project schools have experience with training and projects for developing multiethniccooperation and are interested to work on such projects in the future aswell.

Achievements and attitudes of students

± The students were averagely successful in the choosing of appropriateanswers to the test items related to content that they had been learning(for example, getting to know others, conflict resolution, tolerance,children’s rights, stereotypes, prejudices etc).

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± The majority of students chose the authoritarian approach to the improvingof ethnic tolerance as the right choice.

± There are statistically significant differences in the success of students intests according to their language of instruction.

± In general, the students show openness towards the idea about multiethnicschools and joint activities among the members of the differentcommunities.

2. MULTIETHNIC COMMUNICATION AND SCHOOL INTEGRATION

Work planning and organization and opinions about it

± In all the schools, objectives and/or activities for multiethnic education have been planned, but that is most often inconsistent and does notinclude all the possibilities. In the schools, there are different models of instruction organization according to the languages of instruction (such a state is a good basis for implementation of different approaches to multiethnic education).

± Most students wish to study in the same shift with children from otherethnic background and they want to learn a language of other ethniccommunities.

± Teachers are divided along the line of support for the existence of the so-called ethnic shifts, whereas the greatest part of principals and schooladministration staff do not support organization in ethnically homogenousshifts.

± The greater number of parents support organization of instruction inethnically homogenous shifts, but would suggest to their children to learn a language of another ethnic community.

Joint teacher and student activities

± In the project schools, the formal meetings and training sessions areregularly held jointly, the extracurricular and out-of-school activities (sports and cultural-artistic activities and field trips) are also often heldjointly, but the teaching activities and the work of the clubs is rarelyorganized jointly.

± The greater number of parents does not know that in their school there had been events which aimed at cooperation of students from differentethnic background.

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Interethnic relations and tensions in the schools

± According to the information that the greater part of parents have, their children have friends from other ethnic communities in the school and outside of it.

± When choosing a best friend, the most important for students is for the friend to be good to them, but the number of students (30% of theMacedonians and 40% of the Albanians) to whom it is most important for their best friend to be from the same faith or ethnicity is great.

± The social distance of the teaching staff towards members of other ethniccommunities is fairly large. They accept to live in the same neighborhood,to work together, and possibly to socialize in their free time with membersof other ethnic communities, but not to have them as best friends, or asspouses of their closest family members.

± The greater number of parents have friends from other ethnic communities,but in the families there are not many mixed marriages, especially amongMacedonians.

± A relatively small number of teachers and parents notice observable ethnictensions among the students, but covert tensions are observed by abouthalf of the teachers and around 20% of the parents. The majority ofstudents think that the children from the other ethnic communities behavein a friendly manner, but every tenth student feels that they behave in ahostile manner.

± The teachers, principals and school administration employees reckon thatmore joint activities, but also greater inclusion of parents in the activitiesand involvement of the students in the activities planning could contributeto the decreasing of tensions.

± Apart from the school, according to the opinions of a large number of teachers, principals and school administration staff, the parents and the family and the media could contribute to good interethnic relations the most, whereas textbooks, municipalities, political parties and the non-governmental sector less so.

3. INITIATIVES OF THE MUNICIPALITIES WHICH ARE RELATED TO MULTIETHNICEDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS

± Representatives of the non-governmental sector and the local authoritiesreckon that students from different ethnic background, which study indifferent languages, are insufficiently familiar with one another.

± The non-governmental organizations and the local authorities seethemselves as an important factor in the improvement of interethnictolerance, but a part of the municipalities have not established successful

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cooperation with the non-governmental organizations. The greatest part of the activities for improving the interethnic cooperation among studentswhich are suggested by them refer to out-of-school activities.

± A significant part of the municipality and non-governmental organizationrepresentatives show a certain degree of non-acceptance of (social distancetowards) ethnic communities different from theirs.

± There is a general impression that cooperation (where it exists) among non-governmental organizations, the municipality and schools in the greatestpart is formal and does not include elements of joint defining of prioritiesand activities, as well as joint decision-making. The non-governmentalorganizations most often happen to be the initiators of cooperation.

RECOMMENDATIONSu While planning of project activities, one should use the experiences which

have been acquired using multiethnic activities and diverse models oforganization that the project schools have.

u In the project, the finding that the students are much more open (contraryto teachers and parents) towards students learning in a different languageof instruction should be used, by recalling the motto “creating student-friendly schools”.

u The similarity in attitudes, pedagogical knowledge and training of teachers who conduct instruction in different languages and who comefrom different towns can be used for planning of a cycle of joint training.While doing so, one should have in mind the teachers’ answers about themethods they feel less qualified for, and also to especially use and discussreal situations and appropriate ways of reaction of the teachers toethnically sensitive situations.

u A change in the way of implementation of the curriculum in the regularinstruction is necessary (according to the answers of the students about the content they had studied until the end of the third or seventh grade,respectively, and also according to the achievement in some of the testitems). The inclusion of the students in the class activities (debates,discussions, mini-projects) will help them acquire permanent knowledge of the studied terms and concepts, as well as their distinguishing andapplication.

u It is necessary for schools to take care to inform and include parents in the activities that are planned and implemented in the school. In theproject, specific activities for parents should be devised and realized.

u A part of the factors that could be used in multiethnic education, ex. criticalusing of textbooks and greater engagement of non-governmental

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organizations and municipalities are not familiar to schools. They should be encouraged and enabled to provide joint action, and not to rely on theirown strength only.

u In the project, the fact that the non-governmental organizations possesssolid project management capacities, most of them have experience in thework, i.e. in multiethnic cooperation/tolerance activities, and part of themalso have appropriate experience in the concrete areas connected to theproject goals, should be used.

u The municipalities and non-governmental organizations are interested inthe realization of diverse activities with which the multiethnic cooperationamong students will improve. Since they reckon that they have greaterinfluence and freedom of action outside the schools, they suggest concreteout-of-school activities. Such concrete suggestions should be used as agood basis and their realization should be assisted.

u The openness of the surveyed organizations to work with organizations with ethnic structure which is predominantly different than their ownorganization’s structure could be taken as a basis for inclusion andnetworking of different civic organizations in the project activities.

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NThe basic information about the Strengthening of MultiethnicCo operation in MunicipalitiesProject, the research findingsconnected to multiethniceducation in general and thefindings from research in theRepublic of Macedonia, as well as a conceptual framework for this research, are presented in this part. The methods andinstruments for data collection are described here; a descriptionof the population and the sampleof respondents is given, includingthe choosing of the sample, as well as the way of collecting,processing and analysis of thecollected data.

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1. BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECTIn the primary schools in the Republic of Macedonia, in the multiethnic

environments, the regular instruction is realized according to the mother tongue of thestudents (Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Serbian), while the members of the smallerethnic communities (Roma, Vlachs, Bosniaks) have an opportunity to choose to studytheir mother tongue and culture. Most often the extracurricular activities of studentsare realized in a similar way, especially in schools where the instruction is organized inethnically “clean” shifts. This limits the opportunities for promotion of multiculturalismand interethnic integration and inclusion of students and teachers in common activitiesthrough which interethnic communication, promotion and securing of mutual respect,tolerance, acceptance and greater cooperation would improve.

The Macedonian Civic Education Center (MCEC), through the Pestalozzi Children’sFoundation has started realizing the Strengthening of Multiethnic Cooperation inMunicipalities Project. The main goal of this project, with the support of the Bureau forDevelopment of Education, is to plan and realize activities in selected multiethnicschools in the municipalities inhabited by members of different ethnic groups, whichwill contribute to the strengthening of interethnic and intercultural tolerance andcooperation. Certainly, these activities will also contribute to the development ofcoexistence in the multiethnic municipalities in Macedonia.

The Strengthening of Multiethnic Cooperation in Municipalities Project will berealized in the period 2011-2014. The project activities are directed towards strengtheningof capacities of the municipalities for supporting the realization of multiethnicactivities in the schools. The expected results from the realization of the project are:

u Greater knowledge in students of content that can contribute to interethnicunderstanding.

u Enhanced knowledge and skills in teachers and other employees in schoolsdirected towards an increase and support of interethnic understanding in the community.

u Prepared model activities for students in the schools from the target group.

u Established cooperation among the schools, the local self-government and the non-governmental organizations in the activities supporting amultiethnic society.

u Included activities for multiethnic cooperation in the annual work plans of schools.

Before the starting of the activities in the municipalities/schools, in the period ofJune 2011 – March 2012, a baseline research was conducted in the first threemunicipalities which are included in the first phase of the project. The goal of thisresearch was to gather initial information about the multiethnic cooperation in twoprimary schools with instruction in more languages in three multiethnic municipalitieseach and to determine the recommendations which will assist in the defining of theproject activities.

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2. RESEARCH ABOUT MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION Multiethnic education, in a varied wider context of interethnic relations in

Macedonia, has for the past years been studied a lot (Petroska-Beska V., Najcevska M.,Kenig N., Balazhi S., Tomovska A., Krzalovski A., Klekovski S., Connor G. A., Maleska M.,Nijboer Y. L., OSCE). The studies are most often directed towards analyzing of thesystem set-up (legal framework, curricula, textbooks) as well as towards the examiningof the attitudes of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia or the examining of theattitudes of students, which happens more often. In the majority of studies, it isconcluded that the legal framework and the conceptual documents about education,generally speaking, are a good framework for multicultural and multiethnic education.Only the findings that we considered to be the most relevant for the research and theplanning of the project activities will be mentioned here.

The teachers, according to the OSCE research (2010a), are the most influentialindividual school factor which influences the ethnic attitudes in students. Accordingto this research, the influence of the teachers is explained with around 40% of theethnic attitudes of the students (according to Nijboer Y. L., 2011, p. 9). The attitudes ofthe respondents towards the members of the other ethnic communities, in mostresearch, point at an unsatisfactory level of mutual acquaintance, limited mutualcommunication, existence of prejudices for the others and a feeling of discriminationon ethnic grounds (Krzalovski A., 2011). Most studies also contain recommendations forovercoming of the situations which are assessed as unsatisfactory, and which rangefrom capacity building on the system level to concrete recommendations for activitiesin the schools.

Over the past period, more strategies that deal with an ethnically integratededucation have been prepared (National Strategy of the Republic of Macedonia for theAlliance of Civilizations, Strategy for integrated education). In them one starts fromthe need to strengthen interethnic relations and the social cohesion in the Republic ofMacedonia. Led by this determination, in the past ten years, many projects have beenrealized with the young people in order to develop the civil society, to respect thehuman rights, to overcome prejudices, to decrease exclusion, to increase mutualunderstanding and cooperation, to solve conflict non-violently etc., expecting that itwill contribute to a greater integration in the society. Almost all projects are realizedby non-governmental organizations with the approval and/or support from the local orcentral governments, with funds from donors. Most projects conduct their ownevaluation of the results, and sometimes of the impact, but there is no systematicevaluation on the part of the state which could be of assistance to the undertaking ofresult-based activities (Anger J., Van’t Rood R. A., Gestakovska Z.). Having in mind thestate of affairs in the society, from the aspect of multiethnic and multicultural living,one can conclude that despite the success of the projects while they are implemented,mechanisms for their sustainability are not provided, and the wider effects of allundertaken activities are small and the question of integration in the education iscurrent and open for seeking of effective models.

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Most psychological and pedagogical approaches to education which aims atbetter mutual understanding of the members of different ethnic and culturalcommunities and better development of a more tolerant and better integrated societystart from the “contact” hypothesis of Allport, according to which the social contactsdecrease ethnic prejudices, which has almost become a generally accepted truth. It isthe most researched and the most confirmed hypothesis in the research corpus.However, the researches do not have only one meaning. Newer researches are directedtowards finding of conditions in which the contacts would be an effective way toovercome prejudices and an effective mechanism for social integration (Dixon, 2010, p.402). Although Allport had in mind the conditions in which integration takes place,nevertheless Braddock (Braddock, 1980) listed the following conditions as favorable forsuccessful contact: 1. Equal status between the persons in contact; 2. Sharing of acommon goal; 3. Interaction which assumes cooperation, and 4. Support from theenvironment.

The “contact” hypothesis has critics, as well. For example, Powers and Ellison(Powers D. I. A., Ellison C. G., 1995) point out that the nature of contact is in factconditioned by the previous dominant perception. Thus, the more tolerant ones aremore open to contacts and cooperation, they enter in more frequent and moreproductive contacts. They called that phenomenon “the effect of selectivity” (1995, p.206). Jackman and Crane (Jackman M., Crane M., 1986) consider the theory of contactas an excessively politically neutral and optimistic one. They reckon that ethnic andracial intolerance are primarily political constructs, and much less so traits ofindividuals. They think that politicians often want to keep “racial privileges” (1986, p.484).

In the researches about multicultural education, Banks (Banks, J. A. & Banks, C.A. M. (Eds.). (1993). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (2nd ed.). Boston:Allyn and Bacon and Banks, J. A. (1994). Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum.Educational Leadership, 51(8), 4-8.), according to Pei Jian Zhou (Pei Jian Zhou, 2002, p.2) has distinguished the following five dimensions which can help in the realization andthe evaluation of multicultural education: 1) integration using instructional content,2) acquisition of knowledge, 3) decreasing of prejudices, 4) fair pedagogical approachand 5) improving of the school climate. He reckons that multicultural education calls fora change in the whole school, including the school policy, instruction, instructional andother learning materials, extra-curricular activities, official and unofficial content andrelations, rewarding, managing, counseling and rules of behavior in the school.

Multicultural education, according to him, is a process, it is a way of thinking, away of reaching decisions and a constant way of behaving in the educationalenvironment.

The bases upon which the Strategy for integrated education: Steps towardsintegrated education in the educational system of the Republic of Macedonia (MoES,2008) is being developed are similar.

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3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE RESEARCHHaving in mind the theoretical findings and research in both Macedonia and other

countries and having in mind the fact that the work organization in the schools inlanguage shifts limits the possibility of the staff, students and parents from differentethnic backgrounds to have contacts, in the baseline research, the Strengthening ofmultiethnic cooperation in municipalities Project emphasized the determining of:

а) Realization of multicultural and multiethnic education content (above all inthe teaching subjects Introduction to nature, Civic education and Life skillseducation) where what was examined is the following:

± The knowledge of this content in students from the third and theseventh grades (grades in which such content is the most common).

± Implementation of content connected with multiethnic education.

± The extent to which teachers are willing to accept differences, reactappropriately in ethnically sensitive situations, how prepared they feel to implement content from the area of multiethnic and multiculturaleducation and to use appropriate methods for its realization.

± What are the perform and opinions of teachers and principals about the multiethnic and multicultural education like.

b) Multiethnic communication and integration in schools where what wasexamined is the following:

± The opinions of teachers, principals and school administrationrepresentatives about the influence of different factors on interethnicrelations, their readiness to accept members of different ethniccommunities.

± The perception of students about the relations among the studentsstudying in different languages of instruction, their socializing withstudents from different nationality, their readiness to learn the languageof the others and acceptance of members of different ethniccommunities.

± The opinions of parents about multiethnic education in the school as well as their child’s socializing with children from a different ethnicbackground, as well as accepting of members of different ethniccommunities.

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c) Initiatives in the municipalities related to multiethnic education in schools,where what was examined is the following:

± The perception of interethnic communication in schools byrepresentatives of the municipalities and the non-governmentalorganizations.

± Initiatives and inclusion of the municipalities and the non-governmentalorganizations working in the field of multiethnic education in theschools, their personal readiness to work on such activities and theiracceptance of members of different ethnic communities.

± The perception of mutual cooperation of the non-governmentalorganizations and the municipalities regarding multiethnic educationissues.

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4. DATA GATHERING METHODS AND INSTRUMENTSIn accordance with the conceptual framework, sources and data gathering

methods were utilized on six levels in this research: teachers, students, principals andschool administration representatives, parents, persons responsible for education inthe municipalities and non-governmental organizations representatives. The followinginstruments were developed for the needs of this research: attitude scales, test items,instructional situations, questionnaires, interview guides, social distance scales andtables with information about the school. Also, the annual work programs of the sixschools involved in the research were reviewed.

The gathered data are both quantitative and qualitative.

u Inquiring of the teachers

Data from the teachers was gathered about: the interethnic relations in theschool and the opinions about the practice of implementation of the integrated ethnicactivities; acceptance of differences; preparation for working in a multiethnic andmulticultural environment; qualification of the teachers for adequate conduct in asensitive interethnic situation; social distance scale; and data on education, age andsubjects that the teacher instructs. The scales, the test (the instructional situations)and the questionnaires were compiled in one instrument: Questionnaire for teachers forthe administration of which around 20 minutes were necessary.

u Inquiring of the students

With specially developed tests and their administration at the beginning of thefourth and eighth grades, data about the following issues was gathered: knowledge andunderstanding of questions related to content that was previously learned; students’attitudes and conduct in multiethnic and multicultural situations; knowing andaccepting differences; social distance scale and questions related to social and ethnicbackground of the student. The test items, the questionnaire and the scales werecompiled in a Questionnaire for IV grade students and a Questionnaire for VIII gradestudents, respectively, for the administration of which about 40 minutes were necessary.

u Inquiring of the principals and school administration representatives

Data on the condition in the instruction related to the multiethnic cooperationin the schools and the wider community, information about the experience inmultiethnic projects and trainings as well as the interest for them, and demographicdata about the respondents was gathered through the use of the Questionnaire forprincipal/school administration. A separate form was used for gathering data on theschools: the school size and the parents’ educational structure.

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u Inquiring of the parents

The administration of the Questionnaire for parents helped gather data from theparents about the multiethnic education in their child’s school, about the socializing oftheir child with children coming from different ethnic background, as well as about thelevel of the parents’ acceptance of members of different ethnic communities. Thisquestionnaire was distributed to the parents through the students (their children) and5-10 minutes were necessary for its completion.

u Inquiring of non-governmental organizations representatives

Representatives from NGOs were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire.Data was gathered on their perceptions on the multiethnic relations among thestudents in their municipalities, about the cooperation between the local governmentand the schools in the municipality, as well as about the social distance towards themembers of the other ethnic communities. Also, data was gathered about thecapacities of their organization and their work on projects related to multiethniceducation. About 15-20 minutes were necessary for the completion of thequestionnaire.

u Inquiring of the local self-government representatives

Using a survey – a semi-structured questionnaire – data was gathered from themunicipal representatives responsible for/in charge of the educational sector. Data onthe municipality’s involvement in projects for promotion of interethnic cooperation,the attitudes regarding the presence of ethnic tensions among students, the degree ofcooperation with the schools and non-governmental organizations in the municipality,as well as their attitudes towards the other ethnic communities was gathered. About15-20 minutes were necessary for the completion of the questionnaire.

In the Table 1 you can find the description of each instrument used in theresearch.

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Instrument Short description

Questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire for teachers consisted of three sections:

® The first section consisted of: 1) questions referring to the interethnic relationsin the school and the opinions about the practice of implementation ofethnically integrated activities, 2) a four-level scale of acceptance of differences(Likert-type attitude scale) which measures the acceptance of cultural andethnic differences using 30 given statements; a level of agreement had to beindicated for each of them (only 26 statements were considered in the dataprocessing since 4 were discarded due to the low discrimination value) and 3)questions about the preparation for working in a multiethnic and multiculturalenvironment.

® The second section consisted of 5 teaching situations (vignettes) which examinethe teachers’ qualification for adequate conduct in a sensitive interethnicsituation. One of the tasks was of a cluster type with 5 questions.

® The third section consisted of a social distance scale representing 6 differenttypes of relations with Macedonians, Albanians, Turks and Roma.

® The last 7 questions in the instrument referred to data about the respondent’seducation, age and the subjects the respondent teaches.

Questionnaire for students

The questionnaire for the IV grade students consisted of 4 sections:

® The first section consisted of 14 questions related to knowledge andunderstanding of the content taught in the regular instruction (11 questionswere processed, 3 were discarded due to the low discrimination value).

® The second section consisted of 11 questions related to knowledge and attitudes about oneself, the family and the close surrounding.

® The third section comprised of 7 questions related to the school where the student goes.

® The fourth section was a social distance scale containing 6 different types of relations with Macedonians, Albanians, Turks and Roma.

The questionnaire for the VIII grade students consisted of 4 sections:

® The first section consisted of 33 questions related to knowledge andunderstanding of the content taught in the regular instruction (24 questionswere processed).

® The second section consisted of 8 questions related to knowledge and attitudesabout oneself, the family and the close surrounding.

® The third section comprised of 8 questions related to the school where the student goes.

® The fourth section was a social distance scale containing 6 different types of relations with Macedonians, Albanians, Turks and Roma.

Questionnaire for the principaland the school administration

This instrument consisted of 2 sections:

® The first section consisted of 15 questions referring to: 1) the organization of theeducational work from the aspect of the possibilities for communication andintegration, 2) tensions among the students on ethnic grounds and ways fortheir decreasing, 3) multiethnic and multicultural trainings and projects in whichthe school was involved.

® In the second section, besides the social distance scale, there were 6 questionsrelated to the demographic data of the respondent.

Questionnaire for parents

The questionnaire for parents consisted of 2 sections:

® In the first section with 10 questions the following data was gathered: 1) the parents’ involvement in the activities/decision making in the school, 2) attitudes and opinions about the shifts in the school, 3) learning the languageof the “others”, 4) activities in the school, knowing and socializing with thechildren from the other ethnic communities, 5) tensions among the studentsand ways for their overcoming.

® The social distance scale and three demographic questions about therespondent were part of the second section.

Table 1: Description of the instruments used in the research

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Prior to the finalization of the students’ and teachers’ data gathering instruments,they were tested with students and teachers in one multiethnic school which was notpart of the research. Based on the acquired knowledge, appropriate adaptations to theinstruments were made.

Instrument Short description

Questionnaire for NGOs

The data from the non-governmental organizations was gathered through a semi-structured interview questionnaire (guide) with 3 sections:

® In the first section, data was gathered about the involvement of theorganization representatives in projects for multiethnic cooperation; then,through open-ended questions, their attitudes about the degree of cooperationbetween the non-governmental sector, the schools and the municipaladministration were examined, and at the end the attitudes for the situationwith the multiethnic relations in their municipality were examined.

® The social distance scale was contained in the second section.

® In the third part, data was gathered about: 1) the capacities of the organization,2) areas of expertise, 3) experience in areas and with target groups that arerelevant to the project. In this section data about the respondent was gathered,i.e. his/her function in the organization, as well as information on the genderand ethnic composition of the organization.

Questionnaire for the local self-government

A semi-structured interview questionnaire (guide) provided us with data from the responsible persons for education. This questionnaire consisted of 3 sections:

® In the first section with 13 questions information was gathered about: 1) theinvolvement of the municipality in projects for promotion of multiethniccooperation, 2) the degree of cooperation with the schools and non-governmental organizations that are active in the municipality and 3) therepresentatives’ attitudes about the multiethnic situation among the studentsin the municipality.

® The social distance scale was part of the second section.

® In the third section, data about the respondent and the gender and ethniccomposition of the municipal administration was gathered.

Form for analysis of annual programs

The annual school programs were analyzed using qualitative methods, from theaspect of strategic pledges and planned activities that are aimed to strengtheningthe multicultural understanding and cooperation in the school and promotion ofthe multiethnic concept.

FormUsing a form, data was gathered from each school about its size and demographicstructure, especially in the IV and VIII grades, as well as data on the education ofstudents’ parents/guardians.

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5. SAMPLE5.1. SCHOOLS

In accordance with the framework and the planned future activities in theStrengthening of the multiethnic cooperation in the municipalities project, the sixschools involved in this research represent the population. Namely, there are twoschools from Skopje – Butel Municipality (further in the text Skopje), Tetovo andStrumica – one school from the Strumica Municipality and another from the MurtinoMunicipality (further in the text Strumica).

In these municipalities there are schools with more ethnic communities(Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Roma etc.), the instruction is being realized in morethan one language, and MCEC will work with these schools in the next three years. Theseschools do not represent all the schools in the Republic of Macedonia. Therefore, thefindings, conclusions and recommendations apply to these six schools only.

The characteristics of the schools involved in the research are given in the tables2 and 3.

Language of instruction City (number) Village (number) Total (number)

Macedonian – Albanian 2 / 2

Macedonian – Albanian – Turkish 2 / 2

Macedonian – Turkish 1 1 2

Total 5 1 6

Table 2: Number of schools according to the language of instruction and the place of location

Macedonian language of instruction

Classes Studentslower grades instruction

subject instruction

lower grades instruction

subject instruction

Skopje 12 11 189 219

Tetovo 4 3 90 64

Strumica 38 25 429 590

Total 54 39 708 873

Albanian language of instruction

Classes Studentslower grades instruction

subject instruction

lower grades instruction

subject instruction

Skopje 16 14 361 359

Tetovo 6 6 132 170

Strumica 0 0 0 0

Total 22 20 493 529

Turkish language of instruction

Classes Studentslower grades instruction

subject instruction

lower grades instruction

subject instruction

Skopje 1 1 14 17

Tetovo 1 0 4 0

Strumica 17 0 381 0

Total 19 1 399 17

Table 3: Total number of classes and students in the schools

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5.2. STUDENTS AND PARENTS

In each school, 40 students from the IV and VIII grades each, for each of theinstructional languages in the school, were randomly selected. In the schools wherethere were fewer than 40 students following the instruction in some of the languages,the data was gathered from all the students. The selected students were sittingknowledge tests and filled in questionnaires. The inquiry was conducted on a total of387 students from IV grade and 362 students from VIII grade. The students sample isrepresentative for the students from IV and VIII grades in the respective schools. Thenumber of students involved in the inquiry, segregated by grades and language ofinstruction is given in the table 4.

Data was also gathered from one of the parents/guardians of each student in thesample. The questionnaires were delivered to them through their children. In total, 363parents of IV grade students and 330 parents of VIII grade students completed and sentback the questionnaires. Having in mind that only 57 parents did not send backcompleted questionnaires, i.e. 92% responded, it can be stated that the parents sampleis representative.

Tables 5 and 6 present data about the education of the parents of the studentsin the sample, provided by the students (92% of the students answered this question)and the population of IV and VIII grades (data was gathered from the schools for allstudents in IV and VIII grade – from the school administration. The table is provided inAppendix, at the end of this report.)

Education levels of the fatherMacedonian Albanian Turkish

No. % No. % No. %

Lower than IV grade 2 0,6 3 1 9 13,6

IV grade 0 0 2 0,7 23 34,8

Primary education 54 16 50 18,6 10 15,2

Secondary education 181 53,8 116 43,3 24 36,4

Tertiary education 99 29,5 97 36,2 0 0

Table 5: Education level of students’ fathers by language of instruction

Macedonian language of instruction Albanian language of instruction Turkish language of instruction

IV VIII IV VIII IV VIII

163 192 157 155 67 15

Table 4: Number of students in the sample

Education levels of the motherMacedonian Albanian Turkish

No. % No. % No. %

Lower than IV grade 2 0,6 6 2,2 14 19,2

IV grade 1 0,3 4 1,5 28 38,3

Primary education 55 16,3 91 33,2 17 23,3

Secondary education 182 54 84 30,6 12 16,4

Tertiary education 97 28,8 89 32,3 2 2,7

Table 6: Education level of students’ mothers by language of instruction

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According to the students’ answers, about 2/3 of the parents have completedsecondary and tertiary education. The education level of parents of the students thatfollow the instruction in Turkish language is significantly lower compared to theeducation level of the parents in the schools with Macedonian and Albanian languageof instruction.

5.3. TEACHERS

The target group of teachers comprised of teachers who are considered to havethe biggest possibilities to influence the multiethnic education through the regularinstruction: lower grades and homeroom teachers who implement the Life skillseducation activities and have possibilities to influence the multiethnic cooperationthrough other social activities with the whole class, as well as the teachers who teachCivic education, a subject richest in multiethnic and multicultural content.

In each school by random choice were selected: 5 lower grades teachers whoimplement instruction in each of the languages of instruction present in the fourthgrade; 5 homeroom teachers in the eighth grades teaching in each of the languages ofinstruction and the teachers who teach the Civic education subject. In cases when thenumber of classes from the appropriate grades was smaller than 5, the sample includedall the teachers.

The data was gathered from 64 teachers in total from the six schools. Regardingthe ethnic background, 27 teachers declared as Macedonians, 26 teachers as Albanians,7 teachers as Turkish and 4 teachers did not answer the question.

Almost 2/3 of the respondents (40) are women, 20 are men, while 4 teachers didnot answer the question. This gender imbalance was expected having in mind that themajority of the teachers in the primary education are female.

Regarding the education, the majority of teachers (36) have completed highereducation, 22 teachers are with a college degree, one teacher has a Master's degreeand 5 did not answer the question.

Twenty teachers have up to 10 years of work experience, 11 teachers have 11-20years of work experience, 20 teachers have 21-30 years and 12 teachers have more than30 years of work experience. Forty-seven teachers, or 73,4% from the respondents, havealready implemented the Life skills education program.

5.4. PRINCIPALS AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Principals and one representative from the school administration (pedagogue orpsychologist) from the six schools comprised the sample of the managerial team in theschool. The questionnaire was answered by 15 respondents, out of which 5 principals,1 assistant to the principal, 6 school pedagogues and 3 school psychologists.

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Most of the respondents:

- have work experience between 11 and 20 years (8 respondents)

- are at the age of 31 to 40 years (7)

- are with tertiary level education (10)

- are women (12)

- regarding their ethnic background, 9 are Macedonians, 3 Albanians, 1 is Turkish,and 2 respondents answered with “other”.

5.5. REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE MUNICIPALITIES AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Data was gathered from 5 representatives from the local self-government,responsible for education and 7 representatives from the non-governmentalorganizations.

The structure of the respondents from the non-governmental organizationsaccording to their function in the organization is:

- 3 program coordinators

- 1 secretary general

- 1 member of the Board

- 1 vice president2.

The structure according to the ethnic background is: 4 Macedonians, 1 Bosniak,1 Albanian and for 1 respondent there is no data.

From the local self-government representatives two are education advisors, oneis head of the education department, one is education inspector and one is publicaffairs advisor. According to the ethnic background, all respondents are Macedonian.

2 There is no data on the function of one of the representatives.

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6. DATA GATHERING, PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS Data gathering was performed by the Bureau for development of education

advisors and one representative from the local self-government who is experienced inthis kind of research. One-day instruction was organized for all of them and deadlineswere agreed for administration of the tests and the questionnaires for the students,the questionnaires for the parents, teachers, principal and the school administration.Also, the manner of communication and realization of the interview with therepresentatives from the local self-government and non-governmental organizationswas agreed.

The data gathering process was performed in the period from 12th to 20thDecember. The open-ended questions in the tests for the students were reviewed bytrained reviewers (Bureau for development of education advisors), who have experiencein reviewing this kind of tests.

After the data gathering, the completed instruments were coded and the datawas entered in the Excel application. For their processing the following applicationsand procedures were used:

u TIA plus for the tests and scales for the teachers and the tests for the students, which was used to check the psychometric characteristics of the tests and the attitude scales; the test and attitude scales results were calculated; and comparison among the schools according to the cityand language of instruction was made.

u SPSS was used for processing the answers to the questions and forperforming comparisons and cross-tabulations.

u Data from the interviews and the annual programs for the work of theschools was analyzed using the qualitative method of thematic contentanalysis.

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The data gathered with theresearch divided by researchareas defined in the conceptualframework are presented in thesecond part. The data represent a section of the status of relevantfactors necessary for planning of the program of activities forstrengthening of multiethniccooperation in the municipalities.The data can serve furtherlongitudinal monitoring in thefuture. They are an indicator of the initial state of affairs forthe researched schools andmunicipalities only and theycannot be generalized for thewhole population.

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1. REALIZATION OF MULTICULTURAL AND MULTIETHNIC EDUCATION CONTENT

1.1. QUALIFICATION OF TEACHERS FOR REALIZATION OF CONTENT

Research3 shows that teachers are the most important school factor forsuccessful multiethnic education. As success factors, one could emphasize theirpersonal attitudes about interethnic cooperation and tolerance, their qualification forimplementation of instructional content related to interethnic tolerance andcooperation, as well as methodological qualification for appropriate implementation ofcontent. These factors were examined using four instruments. A short description hasbeen given for each of them and the obtained results have been presented below.

1.1.1. Attitudes of teachers regarding multiethnic and multicultural education

The results are presented using arithmetic means of the degree of acceptance ofthe statements in all teachers and statistical significance was calculated for thedifferences between teachers conducting instruction in different languages of instruction(Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish) from Skopje, Tetovo and Strumica. The statementswhich were accepted to a higher or a lesser degree when compared to other statementswere separately commented4.

3 See section 2 in chapter I.4 Everywhere in the text further on where the existence of differences is mentioned, it means that

a difference has been calculated and it is statistically significant at the level of at least 0.05.

The attitudes of the teachers were measured using a Likert-type scale whichconsisted of 26 statements in total, which referred to working in multiethnicschools. One part of the statements were adapted from the Scale of diversitydeveloped by Follo and Wiggins (Follo Е., Wiggins B., 1999).

The statements are formulated in a way that they express an attitudetowards multiethnic and multicultural education in general, towards working inmultiethnic schools and towards students of different ethnic background.

The respondents were supposed to mark the degree of agreeing with eachof the statements in a four-degree scale (from 1 – I do not agree at all to 4 – I completely agree).

The scale had a high reliability – Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient = 0,79.

Method of measuring

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u In general, the examined teachers showed a tendency towards a positiveattitude for multiethnic and multicultural education. On the level of thewhole sample of teachers, the arithmetic mean (AM) is 69.94, which issignificantly over the theoretical AM = 65, which can be interpreted as anundetermined attitude.

u The average degree of acceptance in a greater part of the statements (15) is either on or above the theoretical average (2.5 at the scale of 1 to 4). Asan illustration, the following statements are accepted at the highest degree(average above 3.5): The teacher should take into consideration the culturaland ethnic differences between the students in the school when working withdifferent children; I believe that, regardless of ethnic background, each child can learn and I do not find it problematic to discuss about issues related to theinterethnic relations in Macedonia. However, on the other hand, statementsof the following kind were accepted to a considerable extent: I sometimesthink that the issue of interethnic tolerance is forced too much; The curriculumis overburdened and there is no time to also deal with interethnic (intercultural)cooperation; It is not the teacher’s task to strengthen the pride for one’s ownculture of the members of different communities, which do not demonstratereadiness to work on multiethnic and multicultural education.

u The teachers who conduct instruction in different languages do not differsignificantly in the accepting of differences in the education and theirreadiness to work in a multiethnic environment.

u The teachers from the schools in Skopje have a slightly more positiveattitude5 towards the accepting of differences in the education whencompared to the schools from Strumica and Tetovo. The arithmetic meanson the scale are as follows: Skopje 72.90, Strumica 66.71 and Tetovo 68.00.

5 The difference in the arithmetic means between Skopje and Strumica, as well as Skopje and Tetovo, is significant at the 0.05 level. Between Strumica and Tetovo there is no difference.

± Having in mind that the teachers’ answers were somewhat influenced by their tendency to present themselves in a positive light, since inMacedonia multiethnic education is declaratively promoted, and theexamined teachers work in mixed schools, the obtained indicators oftheir attitudes regarding their acceptance of differences in the educationand the working in multiethnic environments cannot be assessed as anespecially good basis for multiethnic education.

± The attitude towards acceptance of differences in ethnically andculturally more heterogeneous environment such as Skopje is morepositive. That benefits the hypothesis that contacts influence theacceptance of ethnic and cultural differences.

Conclusion

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1.1.2. Pedagogical and methodological preparation of teachers regardingmultiethnic education

Successful multiethnic education, according to research and experience, suggestsan appropriate preparation of the implementers, above all of the teachers. Thepreparation refers to both personal attitudes regarding multiethnicity and competencefor using of appropriate effective methodological approaches.

The pedagogical and methodological preparation of teachers regardingmultiethnic education was measured using three instruments:

1. Test for teachers, which is consisted of 5 teaching situations (vignettes).The vignettes describe ethnically sensitive situations at school in whichthe teacher can react appropriately or inappropriately to the desiredapproach in a multiethnic school. In one situation, it is requested from theteacher to assess for each of the five offered reactions whether it isappropriate (the alternatives offered for each one are: yes, no, and I amnot sure), and regarding the remaining four situations, the teacher isrequested to choose the most appropriate reaction from the offeredreactions. The test was very short (only 9 test items) and therefore hadlow reliability – Alpha coefficient = 0.49, but the estimated value, shouldthe test consist of 40 test items with similar characteristics, would be 0.81.

2. Self-evaluation scale for preparation for working in a multiethnic andmulticultural environment. The scale contains 12 items that refer toknowledge and skills that teachers should possess in order to successfullywork in a multiethnic and multicultural environment. The respondentsassessed their qualification on a three-degree scale: 3 – sufficientlyprepared, 2 – partially prepared, and 1 – practically unprepared.

3. Self-evaluation scale for preparation for using of interactive methods forimplementation of content with multiethnic character. The scale contains9 items that refer to knowledge and skills that teachers should possess inorder to successfully work in a multiethnic and multicultural environment.The respondents assessed their qualification on a three-degree scale: 3 – sufficiently prepared, 2 – partially prepared, and 1 – practicallyunprepared.

4. Questionnaire for implementation of multiethnic and multicultural education.The questionnaire consisted of 8 closed ended questions which were partof the teachers’ questionnaire.

Method of measuring

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At the test for methodological and pedagogical knowledge, the maximal numberof points was 9. The average result from the test of all teachers is 5.66 points, i.e. theaverage percentage of achievement is 63%. The lowest achieved result from the test is1 point, while the highest is 9 points, which was achieved by only three teachers. Mostof the examined teachers (59%) answered 5-7 questions correctly (chose the optionwhich points to the appropriate reaction in the described multiethnic sensitivesituation).

± The average results from the testing of teachers who teach in a differentlanguage of instruction do not differ.

± The average results from the testing of teachers from Skopje, Tetovo andStrumica do not differ.

1.1.2.1. Answers about the reactions in separate ethnically sensitive situations

In order to get a better picture of the knowledge that is tested and the answersof the teachers, below there are descriptions of the requests in ethnically sensitivesituations and the teachers’ answers.

In the Table 7, the number of the question corresponds with the number of therequest in Chart 1.

Chart 1: Results of all teachers from the test for methodological and pedagogical knowledge

Тeachers

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Items correctly answered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9АС =5,66

Н = 64

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In the following chart, the percentage of correct answers for each question, i.e.choice of an appropriate reaction, is shown.

Between 28% and 88% of the teachers chose appropriate reactions. Theexamined teachers found it easiest to recognize the appropriateness of the reaction 1given in the situation number 1. They had the greatest difficulty when choosing theappropriate reaction in the situation number 4. The two situations and the percentageof chosen answers are given below for illustration.

Chart 2: Percentage of choice of the appropriate reaction

Item number

Perc

enta

ge

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Teaching situation Question Description of the request

1 1 – 5

What should a teacher do when they hear a conversation in whichone student tells another one that she does not like traveling on abus in which Roma people travel because they cause problems.

Five possible reactions are offered and for each possibility one needsto answer with: yes, no, and I am not sure. Four are appropriate, whileone is not appropriate.

2 6

What should a teacher do if the parents want to move their childrento another school because in the class there are several Romachildren who study poorly and are not disciplined.

Four possible reactions are offered.

3 7Reaction of a principal in a situation when a teacher expressesdissatisfaction because of the feeling of discrimination on ethnicgrounds.

4 8Four possible reactions are offered.

Reaction of a teacher in a classroom in a situation where there isnon-acceptance of a student from another ethnic group.

5 9Six possible reactions are offered.

Understanding of the term tolerance.

Table 7: Connection of the requests from the test for pedagogical knowledge and the principles

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u Situation 1 – Reaction when learning about the existence of prejudices

The task and the percentage of teachers who chose each of the possible optionsare given below. The methodologically appropriate answers are marked with numbersin bold type. The sum of the percentages is less than 100 because of the percentage ofunanswered items, which is not entered in the table. When calculating the total resultfrom the test, the unanswered items were marked as incorrectly answered items.

u Situation 4 – Reaction of a teacher in a classroom in a situation where there is non-acceptance of a student from another ethnic group

The task and the percentage of teachers who chose each of the possible optionsare given below. The correct answers are marked with numbers in bold type. The sumof the percentages is less than 100 because of the percentage of unanswered items,which is not entered in the table. When calculating the total result from the test, theunanswered items were marked as incorrectly answered items.

During the break, one student tells another one that she does not like traveling on a bus whichgoes to the neighborhood where Roma people live, because the Roma students always causesome sort of problems while on the bus.

What should a teacher hearing this conversation do?

Yes No I am not sure

% % %

1) Enter the conversation and talk about tolerance and prejudices. ................................................................................... 88 ......... 3 ......... 5

2) Do not intervene in the conversation. ............................................... 9 ......... 61 ......... 13

3) Notify the principal and the school administration representatives about the existence of prejudices. ......................... 55 ......... 17 ......... 14

4) Talk to the parents of the student who has prejudices. ................... 78 ......... 3 ......... 9

5) Talk to the Roma children about the problems on the bus. .............78 ......... 8 ......... 11

The teacher placed Marija to sit at the same desk with Elvira, who is a Roma girl. She explainedto her that Elvira needs help with her studying, and if she sat near her, she would learn better. Marija does not want to sit with her. Elvira cried because she really likes Marija.

Which of the following is the best thing for the teacher to do?

1) To place Elvira to sit with another good student. 0%

2) To talk to Marija’s parents. 13%

3) To tell Marija in private that her behaviour is not all right. 8%

4) To tell Elvira that it is just who Marija is and that she should not even socialize with her. 0%

5) To invite Elvira and Marija and to try to make them bond. 28%

6) To discuss with the whole class about friendship and helping each other. 28%

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1.1.2.2. Self-evaluation of the preparation to work in a multiethnic and multiculturalenvironment

In order to explore how prepared the teachers feel to implement the pledges formultiethnic and multicultural education contained in the Concept for nine-year primaryeducation, they conducted a self-evaluation about their preparation to realize activitiesin the spirit of the principles and goals of primary education. According to the concept– the Principle of understanding of others and multiculturalism underlies every segmentof life and work at school in order to “promote the development of values in studentsfor common living, respecting of differences between people and their culture, languageand traditions… for developing of awareness in students about their cultural heritage,and also, for motivating interest about getting acquainted with the cultural heritage ofthe other communities also” (p. 74). The Principle of democracy endeavors to developthe basic human values, inviolability of life, individual freedom, integrity, dignity andequal rules, while the Principle of non-discrimination endeavors to provide educationwithout any kind of discrimination, explicitly including non-discrimination on ethnicheritage grounds (p. 69-70). One of the means through which that is achieved listed isalso the acquainting with the past and the cultural traditions of the Macedonian peopleand the communities in the Republic of Macedonia, the promotion of principles ofequality among the people; the promotion of the meaning of tolerant behavior,solidarity and training for non-violent resolution of conflicts (p. 78).

Having in mind the abovementioned, the teachers’ questionnaire contained ascale using which they conducted self-evaluation about their qualification to teachstudents about: human rights; conflict resolution; overcoming of ethnic and culturalstereotypes and prejudices; familiarizing them with the culture of the othercommunities and working in ethnically and culturally mixed environments. Accordingto the teachers’ answers, the majority of them feel fully prepared to recognize and dealwith ethnic prejudices, conflict resolution and learning about the rights of children.

A large number of teachers estimated that they are partially prepared to workwith children who have a different command of the language in which the activity isconducted; that they are partially prepared to deal with stereotypes and prejudices ofparents; that they are partially prepared to recognize stereotypes in textbooks; thatthey are partially prepared to adjust teaching materials in order to work with students

± The teachers were not very successful in the choice of appropriatereactions in ethnically sensitive situations. In the training sessions, it would be useful to discuss real situations and appropriate ways forteachers to react.

± There are no differences in the test results achievement of the teacherswith regard to language of instruction or the city in which they work.That indicates that part of the training could be identical.

Conclusion

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with different ethnic background and that they are partially prepared to teach studentsabout the similarities and differences among the different ethnic and cultural groupsin Macedonia.

The teachers who teach in the Macedonian language of instruction, comparedto the teachers from the Albanian language of instruction, feel more prepared forimplementing the majority of listed activities. They feel especially more prepared aboutteaching their students about: the similarities and differences among the ethnic andcultural groups in Macedonia, to recognize and overcome ethnic stereotypes and tostrengthen the self-esteem in students from the marginalized communities.

± There is no significant difference in the self-evaluation of the preparationfor the listed content and activities in teachers from different towns.

Chart 3: Self-evaluation of teachers for the implementation of content and activities related to multiethnic and multicultural education

To recognize ethnic prejudices in students.

To recognize cultural and ethnic stereotypes in the textbooks and other learning sources.

To adjust the teaching materials in order to work withstudents from different ethnic communities.

To deal with ethnic and cultural stereotypes of some of the parents.

To communicate with parents with different culturaland ethnic origin.

To work with children with different command of thelanguage in which the activity is conducted.

To deal with prejudices that students have.

To strengthen self-esteem in students from the marginalized communities.

To teach students how to resolve conflicts.

To teach students how to recognize and overcomeethnic stereotypes.

To teach students about the similarities and differences between different ethnic

and cultural groups in R. Macedonia.

To teach students about children’s rights.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

n sufficiently n partially n unprepared

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1.1.2.3. Self-evaluation of the preparation for using of interactive methods

Multiethnic and multicultural education anticipates instruction implementationthrough interactive methods more than instruction in “traditionally intellectualisticsubjects”. Having in mind the dominant practice of traditional instruction in our schoolsand the insufficient planning and using of project activities, it is important that teachersbe trained to use appropriate interactive methods.

In the questionnaire, they were asked to assess how much they are qualified to usepart of the interactive methods which should be used. They conducted the assessmenton a three-degree scale: sufficiently prepared, partially prepared, and practicallyunprepared.

Between one third and one half of the teachers reckon that they are sufficientlyprepared to use the methods they are expected to use when implementing multiethniccontent. As many think that they are insufficiently prepared. The number of teacherswho assessed that they are practically unprepared is smaller than 10 percent. Thegreatest number of teachers assessed that they are prepared to use exercises fordevelopment of awareness about oneself. That is probably due to the fact that lowergrades teachers implement such content within the curriculum for the Introduction tonature subject. It is slightly surprising that they feel the least prepared to use the mediaand people from the local self-government.

Chart 4: Self-evaluation of the teachers about their preparation for using of interactive methods

Using of different media (radio, television, music, etc.)

Inclusion of people from the local self-government.

Working on projects about multiethnic issues.

Solving of problems in multiethnic situations.

Conducting of debates.

Conducting of group deliberations.

Role-playing.

Games for simulating situations.

Exercises for developing awareness about oneself in students.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%percentage of teachers

n sufficiently prepared n partially prepared n practically unprepared n did not answer

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1.2. STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENTS RELATED TO QUESTIONS FROM THE INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT RELEVANT FOR MULTIETHNICEDUCATION

In the examination of students in terms of learning of content which is relevantfor multiethnic education and achievements, we measured:

u In fourth-grade students, knowledge about the teaching subjectsIntroduction to nature and Life skills education which they studied from the first to the third grade;

u In eighth-grade students, knowledge about the teaching subjects Civiceducation and Life skills education which they studied so far;

u Identification of areas which are expected to have been part of theinstruction, and are connected to multiethnic and multicultural education.

Although the data was gathered in November/December among students fromthe fourth and the eighth grades, the knowledge tests items referred to content thatis studied until the end of the third and the seventh grades, respectively.

1.2.1. Student test achievements – IV grade

The evaluation of the students’ achievements is based on the achieved results ofthe students when answering test items which measure knowledge from the goalsstipulated by the curriculum for the Learning about the environment subject, a subjectwhich the students had in the third grade and the Life skills education subject forstudents from the first to the third grade.

± In general, the majority of teachers assess that they are partiallyprepared for using of most methods that are appropriate for multiethniceducation.

± Their responses about which methods they feel less prepared to useshould be kept in mind when planning the training cycles.

Conclusion

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The average achieved result per student (for all students) from the test is 6.02points; i.e. the average percentage of achievement is 54.71%.

± The average results from the test of the students from Skopje, Tetovo andStrumica differ, and the differences in the achievements are statisticallysignificant among the three towns.

The chart below presents the average results by town.

The test for fourth-grade students consisted of 11 items (two requiring ashort answer, and nine with multiple-choice answers which required circling of themost appropriate/correct answer from the offered three to six answers/reactions).The maximal possible test result is 11 points.

The test items were connected to:

± Knowledge about the tradition and culture of one’s own community and other communities,

± Familiarization with the children’s rights, and

± Accepting and respecting of differences and tolerance.

The small number of test items for each of the listed objectives does notallow for generalization, so the conclusions will refer to the knowledge andaptitudes which are explicitly measured with the items and refer to the studentsfrom the schools in which the research was conducted.

The test was very short and therefore had low reliability – Alpha coefficient= 0.44, but the estimated value, should the test consist of 40 test items with similarcharacteristics, would be 0,74.

Method of measuring

Chart 5: Results from the whole test of all students and results by towns

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All Skopje Tetovo Strumica

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The highest results belong to the students from the schools in Strumica (theaverage result is 6.71, i.e. in percentages that is 61.02); then the students from theschools in Tetovo (the average result is 5.98, i.e. 54.32 translated in percentage ofachievement), and the lowest are the achievements of the students from the schools inthe city of Skopje (the average result per student is 5.41, and the percentage ofachievement is 49.17).

± The average results of the students according to the language of instruction also differ. The differences in the achievements arestatistically significant among all the three languages of instruction(Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish).

The chart below presents the average results of the students by language ofinstruction.

The highest results belong to the students having instruction in Macedonian (theaverage result is 6.93, i.e. in percentages that is 63.02); then the students followinginstruction in Turkish (the average result is 6.04, i.e. 54.95 translated in percentage ofachievement), and the lowest are the achievements of the students learning in Albanian(the average result per student is 5.06, and the percentage of achievement is 45.98).

Chart 6: Results from the whole test of all students and results by language of instruction

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All Macedonian Albanian Turkish

Language of instruction

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1.2.1.1. Answers of students by items

A short description of the requirement of every test item is presented in the tablebelow.

The percentage of correct answers or the choice of an appropriate reaction by alltested students for each of the items are shown in the following chart.

Item Description of the requirement

1. Which characteristic desert is related to a Muslim holiday?Four answers are offered.

2. Write down a specific characteristic of a given Christian holiday.

3. Recognizing of the flag of the Republic of Macedonia.Six answers (flag drawings) are offered.

4. Understanding that rules/school rules should be “fair”/equal for all children. Four rules are offered, out of which one points toward gender discrimination.

5.What should a principal of a multiethnic school do in order to enable the children tosocialize better?Three possible reactions are offered.

6. Being familiar with the ways in which children’s rights could be violated. Four photographs are offered, out of which one shows a violation of the children’s rights.

7. Knowing of the children’s rights.Answers of four students are offered, out of which one is correct.

8. Opinion of the students regarding frequent quarrels among children in a multiethnic school. Four possible answers are offered, out of which one is correct.

9. Reaction of a student in a situation where they need to assist a student from anotherethnic group with the learning.

10Knowledge about the characteristics through which one can learn about the culture ofone people. Four possible answers are offered, out of which one is correct.